Throughput-Optimized Spectrum Cognizant Routing for Coded Military Cognitive Ad Hoc Radio Networks

Cognitive Ad Hoc Radio Networks (CRAHNs) is a technology which has been introduced to deal with the problem of spectrum depletion. CRAHNs address the spectrum depletion problem by letting unlicensed users also called Secondary Users (SUs) recycle unused spectrum bands according to the activities of the of the licensed users/ Primary Users (PUs). CRAHNs have now been implemented in military networks and are called military CRAHNs (MCRAHNs). Routing in MCRAHNs often results in a lot of spectrum switching done by the SUs. In the process of switching between spectrum bands, a lot of data packets are dropped by the SUs which results in a low throughput and high packet drop rate. This study proposes a new routing technique optimized for MCRAHNs which is optimized for throughput and reduces packet drop rate by more than 40%. This new technique uses network coding rather than normal packet relaying to forward packets between nodes. It also uses an algorithm based on the Jacobian equations and the Markov chains to ensure that most forwarded packets reach their destination in the required time.